Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Trip to Nicaragua Part 4 of 4

Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! I pray that you all had a blessed Shabbat! 
Here is the final part to our trip to Nicaragua and I pray it will be a blessing to you and your family.

This trip could not have happened without YHVH and you! Without your gifts and offerings, we could not go and do YHVH's will for our lives. Without your blessing we couldn't be a blessing to the poor, widows, and orphans.

 James 1:27
  Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this:
 to visit orphans and widows in their affliction,
and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
 
Here is the video!


We thank you so much for your offering and allowing YHVH to
 use your offering where it reaches those in need. 
With the gifts you have given, we have been able to go
 to the poor, widows, and orphans throughout Central America
 with the Torah of YHVH being doers of the Word.
With your gifts you have given we have been able to give clothes, dishes, shoes to those in need and 
with the offerings we have been able to visit the prison, preach the Good News, buy a table for a widow, 
and shade for the poor in Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Again, we praise YHVH for all He has done through you 
so far and all you are going to do for His Kingdom sake.  
 
If you see on the top right corner of the screen, there is a button there. That is the new donation button specifically for the poor, widows, and orphans. We thank YHVH so much for EVERYTHING  
He has done through you in our lives and in the lives of others. 
 
We do not seek your gifts, but rather:

Philippians 4:17
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek 
the fruit that is multiplying to your account.
 
 Again, we thank you so much and may YHVH bless you always!

Shalom!
The Montanez Family
Servants and Emissaries of Yahshua, Children of YHVH
HalleluYAH!!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Trip to Nicaragua June 2012 Part 3 of 4

Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! 
Pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat and that YHVH’s shalom/shalem be with you always. 
We are now going through part 3 of our trip to Nicaragua, and I pray that it will be a blessing to you. 
Again, we thank YHVH everyday because through you He provides for what we do. 
Without your help we cannot go anywhere or do any of the things we do. 
Your offering allows us to go to the poor, widows, and orphans and help them 
with what they need most, physically and spiritually. 

May YHVH bless your gift!
____________________________________________________________________________

This post has to do all about about some people close to Dona Mayra;
 her mom Dona Lucia, and her younger sister, Patricia.
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This family blessed us so much on this trip. 
They are a very sweet family that has gone through a lot in their lives, 
part of which we are going to talk about in this post.
The 1st thing I want to share with you is their living situation. 
Before I say anything else, here is a couple of pictures 
of the house they are currently living in:
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Their house, as you can see, is made from the Zinc that is normally put on roofs here. 
They used to have a nice bigger house with concrete blocks but some things 
happened about 4 months ago and they had to take it down. 
This Zinc used to be a part of that old house and they couldn’t move the concrete blocks 
because they didn’t have enough money to bring it there and then
 have someone build it back up so they just built this Zinc house. 

Well, as you can see, it isn’t very big. In fact it is just one room without 
any bathroom in it and a small wood kitchen outside.
 In fact, they have to walk 2 blocks to go to their relatives house to use the outhouse! 
Something else that is a big problem is the heat. It gets very hot and sunny, and most days
 there isn’t very much wind, which makes the heat worse.
The Zinc makes the house much hotter then what it actually is, 
and because it is made completely out of Zinc, it makes things even worse.

Another big problem they have there is lack of shade where their house is.
 They have some small trees planted but it will be a while before they give any shade,
 so they have almost no shade and they can’t really stay in the house when it’s hot
since the Zinc makes thing unbearable even with a fan on.
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BUT thanks to your gifts that YHVH has put on your hearts to bless us with, 
we were able to get them a roll of plastic for some shade as well 
as the finances to get the concrete blocks and have someone rebuild the house 
for them so they can have a nice house with a bathroom. 
You have truly blessed others as well as us with your gift, and for that we thank you 
so much and pray that YHVH will multiply everything that you have!

Philippians 4:17-18a, 20
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that is multiplying to your account. 
Php 4:18a  Indeed I have all and more than enough.
20 And my Elohim shall fill all your need according to 
His riches in esteem by Messiah Yahshua.
_____________________________________________________________________________

The last thing we want to talk about is a young man.
He is 19 years old and is Dona Mayra and Patricia’s brother. 
He has gone though some things in his life and has gone through some troubles 
but he is a bright young man and wants to turn his life around. His name is Alvaro.
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Pray that he will learn from his mistakes and turn his heart fully to Elohim. 
Pray for his family that they can understand that YHVH has a 
bigger purpose for his life through this situation. 
Pray that if it is YHVH’s will, that he will come out of jail 
sooner than his sentencing and most of all pray that he 
can be able to be a tool in the Master’s hand.
______________________________________________________________________________

For everything you have done, providing the finances for the table, 
chairs, basket, food, plastic and concrete blocks, 
as well as the bus trips and border costs, we thank you! 
Your gift has allowed us to bless others beyond what we could do ourselves. 
Without you we couldn’t do anything. 
YHVH bless you and multiply your gift above and beyond what you gave!

Until next time…

Shalom!
The Montanez Family 
Servants and Emissaries of Yahshua, Children of YHVH 
HalleluYAH!!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Trip to Nicaragua June 2012 Part 2 of ?

Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! 
Pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat and that 
YHVH’s shalom/shalem be with you always. 
We are now going through part 2 of our trip to Nicaragua, and I pray that it will be a blessing to you. 
Again, we thank YHVH everyday because through you He provides for what we do. 
Without your help we cannot go anywhere or do any of the things we do. 
Your offering allows us to go to the poor, widows, and orphans and help them
 with what they need most, physically and spiritually. May YHVH bless your gift!
                                                                                                                                                            

Now, on to the pictures! 
While we were there we met a family behind Dona Carmen’s house. 
They are Don Mariano, Dona Angela, and their 9 kids. 
I would say that they are a very blessed family, don’t you think?
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On the left is Luis, Moises, and Dona Angela and on the right is Sylvia, Marylin, and Marta. 
And down below is my dad and Don Mariano.
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This family is very hard working, as you will see in this post. 
They wake up at 4 a.m. and buy 200 uncooked corn-on-the-cobs that they 
make into corn-on-the-cob, tamales, and sometimes atol(a drink made from corn). 
They hoe their field which they planted corn and beans in. 
They cook the corn and then either take the corn of the cob or just put the corn in a bucket. 
The corn that they take off the cob is then sent to a place that 
grinds the corn, once for tamales, and twice for atol. 
They then get the ground corn and make the tamales and occasionally atol. 
They are done by 2 p.m., then they go to sell them. And almost everyday, they do! 
Here are some pictures down below of them with the atol and
 tamales as well as Marta and Luis hoeing the field..
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                              Dona Angela making Atol                   Dona Angela counting the number of tamales they made.
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                               Marta hoeing the field                                                    Luis hoeing the field

Psalms 90:14, 16-17
Satisfy us in the morning with Your kindness, And let us sing for joy all our days!  
16 Reveal Your work to Your servants, And Your splendour to their children.
17 And let the pleasantness Of YHVH our Elohim be upon us, 

And confirm the work of our hands for us; O confirm the work of our hands! 
It was so amazing to see that even though this family works so much, 
they are almost always smiling and almost never scream or yell at one another.
 The kids have an amazing imagination and they make up a lot of games and such. 
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What a blessed family!
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Marta, Sylvia, and Marylin making Tzitziot. 
We taught them what they were for and where the verses are in Scripture. 
May YHVH bless these children and their family!
Please pray for Don Mariano and his family of 10. 
He wants Torah but does not know who can teach him. 
Pray that the children will have learned what the Tzitziot are 
for and that they share what they mean to others.
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Now, there are a couple more children we want to talk about, whose names are Nehemias, Ruben, and Rut.

Mark 10:13-14  
And they were bringing little children for Him to touch them, 
but the taught ones were rebuking those who were bringing them.
And when Yahshua saw it, He was much displeased and said to them, 
“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, 
for of such is the reign of Elohim.
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This is Nehemias, Ruben, Rut, and one of her friends. 
Pray for Nehemias and Ruben who came to the house we stayed at because they heard 
my dad talking about the new covenant in the blood of Mashiach (His TORAH in our minds and hearts)
 and they wanted know why we had fringes(tzitzits). 
We asked if they wanted to believe in Yahshua as their savior 
and if they wanted to enter the new covenant and they both said yes!
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It is very exciting to see new brothers come into the faith, especially young ones like these. 
May YHVH bless them and may they grow in His word and walk according to His will! 

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Psalms 133:1
 "See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity,"
Afterwards, we had a little Bible study. We read Scripture, prayed, and sang. 
This was a very special moment.
 Pray that these children will be able to serve, love, and obey Him 
and be able to reach their families with the Word.
Speaking of their families, we came to know Ruben's dad. 
He used to be a pastor but sadly fell to alcoholism and fornication. 
Now he makes bamboo baskets like the one my dad bought for Dona Carmen.
 My dad was able to talk to Him and he heard his call to return to YHVH’s ways
. Said he wants to return - repent. Pray that he will be able to get rid of the problems in his life
 and follow YHVH, as well as teach his son the Scriptures as well.
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In the next post we will talk about a message my dad was able to bring as well
 as how we able to help the mom and sister of Dona Mayra.
 But until then…
Shalom! 
The Montanez Family 
Servants and Emissaries of Yahshua, Children of YHVH 
HalleluYAH!!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Trip to Nicaragua June 2012 Part 1 of ?

Shalom brothers and sisters in Messiah! We are back from a blessed trip to Nicaragua.
 A lot of things happened while we were there, and with YHVH’s help as well as your offering,
 we were able to bless others.

Psalms 57:9-11
I praise You among the peoples, O YHVH; I sing to You among the nations.
10 For Your kindness is great up to the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds.\
 11Be exalted above the heavens, O Elohim; Let Your esteem be above all the earth.

This trip was truly a blessing in many ways, from the people we blessed to the views we saw. 
When some people think of Nicaragua they think of an 
unstable country with a lot of drugs and violence.
That may be true in some parts, but where we were, 
it was a very different story, as you will see in this post.  
But before we go into that, we want to say thank you for praying for us and 
allowing us the ability through your offerings to go where YHVH wants us to go.
May YHVH bless your gift and multiply all that you have!


Now, on to the pictures! We start out our trip by going from the farm to San Jose. 
 It isn’t a bad trip, but it does take 5 hours to get there on 1 bus.  
But when you take 2 buses, one from close to the farm to Limon(1hr. 30 minutes),
 and one from Limon to San Jose(3hrs. 30 min.), you have a waiting period in between. 
It’s not bad normally unless there are a lot of people, usually about 30 minutes.
We left the farm at 11 a.m and got dropped off about 30 minutes away. 

We stopped by Dona Mayra’s house and picked her up as well.
 The bus got there late(like 12:40) and then we left. 
Anyway, by the time we got there it was close to 6:30. 
We got a taxi to get to the hotel, (more like a boarding house as you will see in a minute)
 and then got something to eat. 

We didn’t take many pictures from the bus ride or San Jose but here are a couple we did take: 

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Me and Christopher, my younger brother.
 He doesn’t like to have his picture taken which is why he isn’t in many pictures. 
He is a big help around the farm and he loves animals!

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 And this is Dona Mayra. She is a very sweet lady with a heart for the Word. 
She is married to Don Renaldo, one of the workers on the farm. 
She was our guide for the trip as she is from Nicaragua. 

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And now, the hotel. It is more like a boarding house where you pay by the person. 
It is taken care of by an older lady. There are some people who rent some of the rooms 
out for a long time but normally it’s just one or 2 nights. Here is a couple pictures of me on the beds. They aren’t the best beds in the world but it is much better then sleeping on the floor. 
Everyone shares one bathroom and one shower. Fancy it’s not but it is cheap and clean!
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Dona Mayra calling Don Renaldo to tell him that we made it to San Jose. 
Just about everyone in Central America uses prepaid cards 
or phones since they can’t afford monthly plans.


The next day we went from San Jose to Nicaragua. 
This is a very long trip, plus we have to cross the border. 
We woke up at 4 a.m and left San Jose at 4:30. It is about 6 hours from San Jose to the border. 
We had to get our passports stamped and such at the border so we could cross. 
Thankfully it wasn’t a very long wait and were able to get on the bus at around 12:30.
 It took about 31/2 hours to get to where we were going, a town called Niquihnomo. 
Here we were met by Dona Carmen, better known as Tia Carmen. 

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James 1:27
Clean and undefiled religion before the Elohim and Father is this:  
to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
 
Dona Carmen is an elderly widow of 8 years.
 She has had a very blessed life and is a strong warrior for the Word. 
Her house was built and given for her by a pastor and 
when missionaries come she invites them to stay at her house. 
Last year she thought she was moving to Costa Rica with Dona Mayra 
so she sold everything in her house, but as she said,” It was my plan, not God’s plan.” 
And so it was. About 3 months ago she came back to Nicaragua, 
with a feeling that God wanted her to stay in Nicaragua. 

Now saying that, because she sold everything, their wasn’t anything in the house.
 She didn’t have almost anything other than a bed, 
a SMALL table, and some kitchen stuff which she put on the table. 
She was still happy with what she had, but when my dad asked her 
what she needed the most, she told us what she truly needed… 

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 She said that more than anything, she wanted a big table and chairs so that whoever 
came and stayed could have a place to eat at instead of on floor or in their laps. 
She says she used to have a big table where she would have the people sit at. 
The church let her borrow some chairs but whenever they need them, she only has 1 chair to sit at. So, thanks to YHVH and thanks to your offering, we were able to buy her a table and 4 chairs so that whenever people come over she would be able to serve them food there instead of in their laps. 

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We also got her a matchete(she has a lot of energy still!!) and a basket made from bamboo. 
On our last days there a lady called her and asked her if she wanted a bed. 
The lady asked Dona Carmen where we were sleeping. 
She told her we were basically sleeping on the floor
(which is pretty much true, the “bed” wasn’t much thicker than a comforter).
 The lady felt really bad. She said that she had a big matrimonial bed
 and that she would give it to her in a little while. 
There also have been other people that are going to give her some other things.
 May YHVH bless her and allow her long life to continue blessing others. 

In the next blogpost, we will be talking about some more families we saw and were able to bless. 
But for now, until next time…

Shalom!
The Montanez family
Servants and Emissaries of Yahshua, Children of YHVH
HalleluYAH!! 

Note: I had to redo these posts so I could make the pictures look better. Shalom!